


Coming Home

by TheDissappearingAct



Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, helens parents suck, uh bad parents trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-20 19:33:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15541422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDissappearingAct/pseuds/TheDissappearingAct
Summary: Helen and her parents were never on good terms.





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed that uh, Helen's parents weren't at the wedding. There's probably a reasonable explanation but I'm here for the angsty one. I'm sorry for the sad.

Helen nervously tapped the car door. She had only been this anxious a handful of times and never for something so big. She mentally criticized herself for letting Bob convince her into this. 

"Hey, Helen." Bob looked over at her. "You're tapping like a maniac again."

"Oh sorry," she stopped her hands and looked ahead. 

"No, you can tap all you want. Why are you so nervous?"

She let out a shaky laugh. Where should she begin? Her parents disapproved of her career? The fact that they never supported her and the phone call she'd made yesterday was the first in a year? The fact that she hadn't told them he was a super?

"I just... am." She sighed. "What if they don't like you?"

"Don't worry, I'm good with parents. It'll all be fine." he reassured her. "And it's your parents anyway. What are they gonna do to you?"

That's exactly what she was afraid of. 

"You'll be alright."

She gave an unconvincing nod and focused on what she was going to say. She had started recognizing the stores now so they couldn't have been more than ten minutes away. The closer they got, the greater her feeling of dread became. 

Soon, they reached her childhood home and Helen thought she was going to faint from stress. She took a shaky step outside and looked around. Everything looked the same. They hadn't renovated the house or changed their car. Her mother hadn't even changed the colours of the flowers she planted every spring. 

Bob came up behind her and gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "You okay."

"Yeah," They walked toward her house. 

* * *

 

The initial meeting had went well. Bob had been charming and her parent's had been their usually fake good-natured selves. They talked a bit about the city and the weather and how 'Helen should visit more often' and then they sat down for dinner. And that's when the show happened. 

"So, what do you work in?" her father asked Bob after sitting down.

Bob shot her a confused look. "Well, I thought Helen told you. I'm a super too. Mr. Incredible?"

"Oh," was all her father said. An uncomfortable silence fell onto the group and confirmed her suspicions. Her parents hadn't changed. 

"You know, Helen never calls." Her mom started, a feeble attempt to change the topic of conversation. "And when she does it's always just vague details. She could have brought home a raccoon and it would've fit the description she gave us about you."

Bob laughed and her parents smiled but she knew nothing could diffuse the tension in the air. Her parents were polite. They asked questions and and cracked jokes. But Helen knew it was all a facade. And from Bob's face and the warmth he radiated, he didn't.

As they got to leave, Helen kept her distance from her parents, not wanting to elongate this interaction any more than it needed to be. But her mother stopped her as Bob was walking out the door. 

"Hey, Bob?" she said to his back. "Start the car. I'll be out in a bit." She turned back to her mom who still had that damned fake smile plastered on her face.

"You know how we feel about this."

"Mom, please." Helen pleaded, her voice already cracking. 

"Honey, we just don't think you're doing the best thing for yourself. There's no security in being a super and especially not being  _with_ one."

"Mom, I'm _happy_. What more could you want?"

Her mother's voice turned hard. "Helen Truax you are not a child. Just because something makes you happy for a short time doesn't mean its the best thing for you."

"Your mother is right." Helen looked up to see her father standing beside her mom. "That  _man_ isn't right for you."

"He loves me. And I love him."

"Will he still love you after a year when the newest female super enters?" 

She cringed at his words. "He's not like that. I know him."

"Jesus Christ Helen, you can't just go and marry a man like that. Think of the family and what people will say. What about your aunts and uncles? They'll mock us for the rest of our lives."

" _Is that all you care about?"_ Tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she took a steadying breath and stared at her father. "Does what I want not matter?"

"Of course it does, honey." Her moved toward her and pulled her in a for a hug, her voice soft again. "We would never do anything to hurt you."

Helen pushed her away. "But you already have." She clenched her jaw and put on her coat. "Goodbye Mom. Goodbye Dad." The words felt wooden and strange on her tongue. 

She started to leave but her father's voice stopped her. "Helen. Next time you come see us, I don't want this boy in your life."

She ran out into the car, brushing her tears with the sleeves of her coat. 

"Helen?" Bob asked, shocked to see her like this. 

"Let's go,"

"Helen are you okay? Is everything alright?"

"Please Bob, let's just leave." Her voice was wavering. She bit her finger to stop from crying. 

Thankfully, Bob didn't ask any questions and began to drive. She hid her face from him. As much as you could hide from a person when you were sitting right beside them. 

"Helen, what's wrong?" 

The sincerity of his voice broke her and she began to cry softly. The more she cried the bigger the hot shame seemed to grow. Somehow her parents had ruined things without them even being there.

* * *

Bob was stunned by her emotional outburst. He pulled into a a grocery store parking lot and stopped the car. Helen had always been so composed in front of him. Defiant and bold. And here she was, sobbing like a vulnerable child. Even without her saying something, he somehow understood that this emotion didn't come from the adult Helen, but from a younger version of her. It was a childhood version of Helen that was breaking down. This wasn't about today, this was about something more.

"Helen?" He touched her shoulder gently and she looked up at him. "Do you want to tell me?"

She nodded and started. He realized there was a lot he didn't know about her. She was sixteen when she started supering. She had been valedictorian in high school. She had somehow done pre-med in college and finished it along with supering. But most importantly he learned about her parents. That they had been disapproving about her powers from the start. That they had hated when she took it as a full time job, even when it paid well. That they had begged her to find a  _normal_ boyfriend. 

Hearing all this Bob couldn't help but wonder how long she had been keeping this to herself. When she finished he put his arm around her shoulder and held her tight. She buried her face in his chest. 

Unbeknownst to Bob, she had already made her decision. There was no point in pleasing her parents if they would grow to be disappointed by something new each time. 

* * *

Helen got off the phone letting go a shaky breath. It had been almost a year after that disastrous day and yet somehow she still felt the same. She slowly lowered her head and closed her eyes, feeling the tears come but not letting them fall. Her mind had gone still but her hands were trembling. 

Bob walked in holding a small checklist, oblivious to his financee's tension. "After this we'll have to call Lucius and Honey and all the other supers. Oh, and Edna!" He looked up. "Helen? Did you call them?"

She looked at him and then quickly averted her eyes. "They're not coming." She said, her voice barely a whisper. 

He walked over and sat beside her, concern washing over his face. "Why? Are they okay?"

"They..." She didn't have words soft enough to explain this to him without hurting him in the process. "They don't want me to get married... to you." She put her head in her hands. "They have this idea that if they give me an ultimatum I'll do what they say. And, I mean, they're right. I've never done anything against their wishes that's been this big." Her voice threatened to break. "But... it's fine. I'll get married without them. If they're willing to abandon their daughter just for some shitty belief so be it."

"Helen," Bob took her hands in his. "We could... call it off. You'd have time to talk to your parents and convince them-"

"No," she shook her head. "There's no point. They're stubborn and filled with a false sense of pride. And I... don't know if I could confront them." She looked up at him. "I love you. And...and I'm afraid that they'll take me away from you."

He pushed a lock of hair away. "I love you too. And I promise. I'm not going anywhere without you."

She smiled. "Who else do we have to call?"


End file.
